08/17/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Sandra Quinlan // Sandra Quinlan
Hialeah, FL—Two South Florida businessmen were arrested and charged with healthcare fraud after submitting $63,000 in bogus Medicare bills for $395 penis pumps. The entrepreneurs were indicted in February 2010, but went into hiding until FBI agents discovered their whereabouts last week, according to a Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Miami Herald report.
Reports stated 47-year-old Emilio Felipe Lopez, president of Charlie RX, and 25-year-old Orlando Hernandez Estevez, president of Happy Trips, together billed $63,000 for male vacuum-erection systems.
Lopez and Estevez are accused of stealing doctor’s identifications, Medicare patients’ numbers, subsequently bilking Medicare for nearly $2 million. The fraudulent Medicare claims were reportedly submitted between October and February, according to charges announced Monday in federal court in Miami.
Medicare spokesperson Peter Ashkenaz alleged the healthcare program will ONLY cover the said penis pumps if a physician deems them “medically necessary” to help male patients fight impotence. The federal healthcare program for the elderly and disabled reimbursed the businessmen $28,600 for their bogus claims.
Nonetheless, Medicare failed to notice that the healthcare program was billed for four penis pumps for a single woman. “That we should have caught,” Ashkenaz added.
With Miami-Dade County known as the epicenter for healthcare-fraud in the United States, this particular case brings light to Medicare’s flawed “pay and chase” system.
The “pay and chase” system reportedly allows Medicare to pay off all claims, including phony ones, until the mistakes are discovered. Federal law enforcement officials then have the task of apprehending the culprits.
The case continues.
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